Heart of Christmas - Henry is Santa

North Pole- Henry is Santa

Concerts and recitals

 We kicked the holiday season off with a lovely concert at the Catholic Church in Seneca to support hospice.

 Then Henry had his first ever piano recital. He did a fantastic job.

 Here he is with his most favorite music teacher Mrs. Kelley Smith.

 This week Nate performed in the 2015 holiday concert for Wahalla middle school band.

 He has been practicing at school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 7:20 AM to be a part of the jazz ensemble.

 It was a great concert. It is amazing to see how much they learned in such a short time.

 All the grandparents were able to attend. It is so special to have them support our boys.

 Luke has been attending his basketball practices. This year will be a little different as he moved up to the eight and under team. He is by far the smallest kid on the team.

 The more Carly is around our new baby kitty the more she misbehaves. This week she broke our favorite Minecraft ornament

Welcome Wesleyan Toy Store 2015

I had the best time shopping at target with Mom and Valerie. We got to spend $1000 on toys. These toys will go into a toy store. We will invite needy families in the area to come and purchase the toys for one dollar, three dollars or five dollars.

 It is this cashiers biggest order ever. I had a 20% off coupon and we got to go back and get an additional $400 of toys.

 In addition to all the toys that have already been donated by the church family this outreach should be successful!

What a weekend!!

We had an eventful weekend!  Bryan volunteered in Luke's first grade class on Friday to help make pumpkins.  Here is Luke's "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" themed pumpkin

He absolutely loves school and his teacher!  And, he's quite fond of the redhead in this picture too!  

Greg and Stephanie had to go out of town this weekend.  They haven't left their kids overnight since Stephanie's mom passed away 7 years ago.  Bryan and I were thrilled that they trusted us enough to leave them with us.  

I know most of you know that we are all boy here at this house and this weekend was no exception.  

Henry was sick with a fever all weekend and I will confess that I was a little preoccupied with  taking care of him.  Not that I didn't watch the others every moment.  However, there was this one incident that happened.  Video below tells the story.  Bryan ended up taking Collin to the ER and he got 6 stitches.  Will Greg and Stephanie ever trust their kids to us again!!!???

It was a great weekeend (other than the injury and Henry's fever)  Reese snacked on several foods for the first time, including easy cheese!  She said "NO!" when Nate tried to share his sardines.

Blowing up an apple.  (after watching some of the videos they made this weekend I'm just thankful we only had 6 stitches!)

Sunday was friendfest at church.  It was awesome!  Record breaking crowd and a fun time with Friends and Family!  

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Golf injury - warning graphic content!!

Henry is 11!

Henry turned 11 years old with this hairdo. He decided to surprise everyone Monday morning with a new hairstyle.

Isn't he adorable?

He had a great time celebrating at Walhalla power tumbling.

He's been saving money since Christmas to purchase a DSLR camera. He's researched, watched YouTube videos, borrow Denise's camera, and finally he had enough money after his party to buy a refurbished Nikon off eBay. We placed the order last night and hopefully he will receive it by the end of the week. He is an amateur photographer in the making. So proud of my middle child. He has so much personality! And I love his haircut!

Happy birthday Henry!

Cut the cake, Henry!

Kitten love

We love this sweet kitten! But we still miss our "baby"

Mildred and Grace

Granny is in the hospital.  Right across the hall is her best friend for 75 years, Mildred Wood.  Mildred introduced Granny to her brother LJ who fell in love with Granny and later became my Papa.  Mildred and Granny have lived across the road from each other for 70 years.  Granny was closer to Mildred than she ever was any of her own sisters.  Now they are across the hall from each other at Oconee Memorial Hospital.  Granny was being transferred to Greenville Memorial for a pacemaker and they requested that they tell each other goodbye.  The staff at Oconee were wonderful!  They couldn't bring Mildred into Granny's room (or vice-versa) because they were under isolation.  They they met in the hall.  This took a lot of work by a special man, Charles.  Here they are telling each other goodbye. They will put in the pacemaker tomorrow. They aren't trying to avoid death, just avoid something worse like a stroke. Drs said without a pacemaker, a stroke was likely. She's one tough lady. 

Here's to beautiful, lifelong friendships! 

Grace and Mildred a

Kitten love

 Babykity is still gone. The only evidence we can find of foul play is a large hole on our bank  and nasty poop. Maybe it could be a groundhog? I have not given up hope of finding her but in the meantime I have some very sad boys.

 This morning Luke asked me to go in his bedroom get in his bed and turn the light off to pray. He prayed the most beautiful prayer. It stated that he hoped we would find babykity. And that if we didn't that cross country practice would be canceled due to rain. Then we could go to the animal shelter and find another cat suitable for our family. That this cat we get along with Sam and Carly perfectly. That this cat would be the perfect addition to our family. Now how can you not take your youngest son to the animal shelter after school when he prayed the prayer like best?

 Cross country was not canceled. They run rain or shine. However we did go and we met this beautiful set of brother kittens.

 There were three of them. And we all fell in love with one particular one. Not to mention that has lighter for which makes me itch a little less.

 Take a look at these two beauties. If I were alone I would have brought them both home. They were Adult cats and they were gorgeous!

They are available if you are interested.... So loving.

 Our sweet boy. We brought him home and Henry and Luke were thrilled. We have discussed his name all evening.

 Luke votes for the name snowball. I vote for the name gizmo or Bo or Hope. Henry likes the name Jonathan. Nate likes the name lil nugget! 

 Tonight the babykity went to bed laying between Me and Luke in his bed. Luke still cried for babykity . It is so hard to explain to your children the saddest parts of life.

 When nate got home from cross country he was completely smitten. He is the "cat whisperer"

 covering his eyes so he could nap

 and when my oldest has free time, this is what he does! Such a scientist